America’s SSC Claims New Top Speed Record of 255.83 MPH
What’s the fastest production car available in the world today? While it’s tempting to spout one of the default answers (“Bugatti Veyron
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Comments
dante
What constitutes a production car? Is this thing being produced in real numbers? I hope so. Anything that embarrasses the VW white elephant gets high marks in my book, as pointless as these records are. The McLaren F1 was an amazing car without the top speed record. This thing looks like several other cars of its kind and the Bugatti is a celebration of bad taste.
SuperSkyline89
Produced in real numbers. If you scale the price then, sure. They would only make as many as they can realistically sell or make it extremely limited to increase the hype. But so what? The fastest cars in the world are rocket cars, they are one of a kind vehicles that no one can buy but people (not me) get just as excited over them. Compared to those rocket cars, cars like the Veyron and SSC Aero seem pretty damn realistic. If you don't like how these cars look, fine, that's your opinion, I'm not gonna fight you. But the simple fact is that they are incredibly using a conventional (if not extremely powerful and huge) gas powered internal combustion engine, so I think they should be considered production cars.
Jonathan Fung [Gotakon]
Hmm...wonder how fast it goes on ice....
dante
You missed the point. How many of these are they making? If they built, say, five I wouldn't consider that a production car. I could build five cars, but that doesn't make me a mfg. They don't mention production figures and I've never seen one of these things. I've seen hundreds of people introduce 'radical' prototypes that amount to nothing or a few quickly-forgotten cars at best.
Aside from that, I don't see anything realistic in it. I don't know anywhere near me where I could use two thirds of that speed. And I don't think sticking a huge engine, the technology for which has been perfected over well over 100 years, into some formulaic design where cost is of little consideration to punch its way through the air is impressive in the least. Yes, a sledghammer can smash a door. This car, and many like them, are the equivalent of a the Hollywood underdog sports movie - we've seen it a million times, all they do is change the names, maybe the sport. Horsepower is easy, creativity and originality is not, and apparently pragmatism has little place in modern society. I'd have been impressed if he did this on a $20k budget or with only a few hundred horsepower.
chuck goolsbee
wow... I just drove that road the week before last... mind you at a bit under the speed of the SSC did. ;)
http://chuck.goolsbee.org/archives/446
--chuck
http://chuck.goolsbee.org
mo
@ dante, chill dawg and stop taking nonsense. In order to have a car with such great horsepower requires a lot in designing the car (the thing that, as you said, is done with the sludge hammer). Put in mind the amount of air resistance created as speed goes up. Think about the amount of heat produced from that engine (since it is easy to create horse powers). The maker should think about reducing air resistance and eliminating the heat by using a smart design. Engineers don’t just dump an engine in a chassis and put a piece of plastic (or carbon fibre or aluminum) to make the car looks cool. Designing a car requires a lot of work.
Now, in order to make the car go at such a high speed safely, all its parts should be solid till you can’t imagine. You don’t want screws getting loose as your speed is increasing.
The bottom line, it is not making a strong engine and a light body to make such a crazy car. There are so many testing and thinking done (if they want it to be successful)
Andres Menacho
truly amazing, but still the design really doesnt catch my eyes, plus although the car reaches that speed, ive wonder how well would they handle on a track or twisty road. I know the veyron is extremely heavy so I dont think it does the job that easily. You see, racing for the top speed in a way is easy, but having speed(maybe not as fast) and handling is a whole different game. I think this is why manufacturers such as Ferrari havent really been chasing those records anymore, instead they have opted to create true track vehicles that handle well almost anywhere, maybe not on ice though Chuck
M. Dillon
...ditto,Dante. By the way,Chuck...
...very nice blog/website you got there. Those Jags are beautiful,to state the least.
Undertow
Guys, don't forget that over 40 years ago Ford had a 225 mph car that raced successfully on tracks with turns, wet pavement and the ability to stop as well as go! It was the GT40 and amassed an impressive record of wins for the USA and Ford. Speeds in excess of 200 mph are not new and of course will continue to climb as time goes on!
Ducati Minor
The GT40 was a Le Mans race car--not a run-of-the-mille street car. Only a handful were converted for road use before Ford pulled the plug.
I am psyched about the SSC. I like this car. It's an independently-built supercar offering record-breaking performance and (in my opinion, anyway) sharp looks. If the Aero's record is true, this will be more like the Koenigsegg record--only known by car lovers and no one else. This isn't the marvel the McLaren was, but I hope to see more.
dante
Mo, first learn to spell if you're going to try to criticize anyone else for not making sense. And I went to CCS so I'm quite aware of how a car is made and what goes into it. When I finish my house, I'll be building my own. And I've seen very regular dudes build 1000 hp engines. There's no original thinking here. Until someone finally maintains roads without holes that can swallow Geos so we could actually enjoy driving and comes up with public transportation that actually works for the majority of people out there that hate to drive, thus keeping them off the road, these cars will be utterly pointless. They sit in the same traffic I do, wasting more gas and unable to get through traffic as efficiently as the cheap beater I bought since they're too big, too valuable to risk, attract too much attention from the police, you can't see out of them, and you have to be careful of potholes that can take out their stiff suspensions. This is dinosaur thinking. Times are changing and guess what happens to those who can't evolve?
Tony D
dante, I think you need to relax and buy a Prius. This car isn't intended as a commuter. Are you going to complain about the lack of cupholders too?
djuro
It has Recaro seats, MOMO pedals, and an Eclipse Sound System?? All the luxeries a modified Honda has, except a Honda can actually pull it off... If your going to make a supercar, make it super, not just exceptionally fast.
Dustin
Now, if only the BBC show Top Gear could get ahold of one of these to test on their track, we could see a REAL comparison with other supercars. Although the Bugatti Veyron isn't the prettiest or the lightest, I'm betting the technology that went into it is far more impressive than what SSC has to offer, and the Veyron is civilized enough that it can be driven daily(not that you would) AND reach 253+mph(in under a minute),...given, it's not the track-day car that the SSC "appears" to be, but then again, how many people take million $ cars to the track on weekends? I'm excited about this SSC, but it's not the breakthrough that the Veyron was by a long shot.
Dave
Looks like a kit car i would take a veyron it has an auto mode and seems useable every day, wasn't there the Barabus TKR I heard it was supposed to top ou at 275 and go from 0-60 1.67.
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